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Dakota Conflict Trials: 1862 - Largest Mass Execution In U.s. History

In Mankato, Minnesota, at 10 A.M. on the morning of December 26, soldiers led 38 prisoners (one person was reprieved between the date of Lincoln's order and the execution), wearing white muslin coverings and singing Dakota Sioux death songs, to gallows arranged on a circular scaffold. The warriors took the places assigned to them on the platform; ropes were placed around each neck. At the signal of three drumbeats, a single blow from an ax cut the rope that held the platform and 37 people fell to their deaths. One prisoner's rope broke and he consequently had to be rehung, prolonging whatever agony he may have felt before dying. A loud cheer went up from the thousands of spectators gathered to witness the event. The bodies were buried in a mass grave on the edge of town. Soon area physicians, including one named Mayo, arrived to collect cadavers for their medical research.

The hanging stands as the largest mass execution in American history.

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about 1 month ago

The story is vastly more complicated than has been portrayed here. Originally over 300 braves (almost 400) were sentenced to be executed. Lincoln personally reviewed the trial records and commuted the sentences for most of them. He could not commute them all because over 400 settlers had been killed and he was balancing the potential of an blood bath and uprising from the local settlers against that of an uprising and blood bath from the native populations. The original violence came from misunderstandings and local mishandling of the national agreements with the native populations, resulting in starvation and pervasive deadly illnesses among them. Both sides suffered, were wronged, and wronged the other. It was an ugly problem, with the only available solutions all lose-lose scenarios. Lincoln did a remarkable job of trying to manage a bad situation.

5 months ago

They deserved what was coming to them. Power to the white man

12 months ago

The more I learn about this, the more upset I become with the government and the way Lincoln is portrayed in history.